Colours Are Ordinary Adjectives
Most Portuguese colours inflect exactly like the adjectives of lesson 18 — four forms, and they follow the noun:
| m. sg. | f. sg. | m. pl. | f. pl. |
|---|---|---|---|
| vermelho | vermelha | vermelhos | vermelhas |
| amarelo | amarela | amarelos | amarelas |
| castanho | castanha | castanhos | castanhas |
| cinzento | cinzenta | cinzentos | cinzentas |
| roxo | roxa | roxos | roxas |
| The red shirt is beautiful. | A camisa vermelha é bonita. |
The Ones That Never Change
verde ends in -e, so like grande it has only two forms: verde and verdes.
The two colours named after things are INVARIABLE — they never change at all, because grammatically they are still the noun cor plus a complement:
| cor-de-rosa | pink — literally rose-colour |
| cor de laranja | orange — literally orange-colour |
So it is as calças cor de laranja, never cor de laranjas.
| The orange trousers are new. | As calças cor de laranja são novas. |
A Spelling Trap Worth Knowing
Notice that cor-de-rosa keeps its hyphens while cor de laranja has none. This is not a typo. The 1990 spelling agreement removed the hyphens from colour phrases generally, but named cor-de-rosa as one of a short list of exceptions kept by usage. Learn the two spellings as they are written here.
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